


The Found And Lost Boy

by SteveSmackdown2014



Category: Strange Hill High
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Crush, Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, Backstory, Best Friends, Bonding, Boyfriends, Boys In Love, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Gay Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Childhood Friends, Crossdressing, Crushes, Denial of Feelings, Developing Friendships, Dorks in Love, F/M, First Crush, First Dates, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff and Angst, Friend group, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, High School, Idiots in Love, Insecurity, Junior year, Love Triangles, M/M, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Mutual Pining, My First Work in This Fandom, Nerdiness, Nervousness, Nicknames, Pet Names, Romantic Friendship, School, Science Boyfriends, Weird Fluff, Weirdness, bonding over crushes, look dude it happened in the episode, mitchell is insecure, new kid in school, oh yeah and ESPECIALLY becky, peter: idgaf what ur gender is, poodle boy ♡, put on the poodle skirt, tempelton does NOT know what a crush is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27231337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveSmackdown2014/pseuds/SteveSmackdown2014
Summary: Two months after discovering Peter Dustpan living in the Lost and Found and reuniting him with his father, Mitchell, Becky, and Templeton became so caught up in Strange Hill's other mysteries that they seemed to forget about him over time.But when Peter suddenly reappears, enrolls in their classes, and wishes to be friends with the three again, they get wrapped up in a whole new mystery- an addition to the group with a strange clinginess to Templeton, who in turn has been acting a lot more odd than usual.Mitchell and Becky watch from afar, making it their goal to get to the bottom of whatever effect Peter has on Templeton, or if it's even Peter at all. And when a newfound secret Becky has threatens to drive a wedge through the friend group as a whole, one thing becomes clear.They're in for a very, very strange semester.
Relationships: Peter Dustpan/Templeton, mitchell tanner/becky butters
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Reminiscence

Becky Butters was picking at her food.

“Oy, Bex, you usually eat up these vegetables. Anything different bothering you today? You’re acting weird,” Mitchell Tanner, her childhood friend, poked her in the arm with his plastic fork.

Mitchell, rowdy and rebellious, had been the reserved-and-good-moraled Becky’s friend for a very long time, dating back to secondary school, 4th day of 7th grade. After being picked on by the school bully, a small Tanner approached the scared-and-hurt Butters and asked her if she wanted to be friends because, and she quotes, “you seem cool”

She doesn’t really forget the fact he didn't offer to help her. She brings it up sometimes, and he laughs and shoves her and jokes about how he was different then.

Mitchell hadn’t actually changed much. But she didn’t care- they were friends. And if he had changed at all, it would be that now he would probably beat up anyone who messed with her.

Becky smiled thinking about it.

“It’s nothing. I’m just… thinking.” Becky furrowed her brows.

“Thinking about what? Currently, I’m thinking about the mole infestation the basement has. Maybe it is a sign? Sign from what, I… don’t know. But, I’ll try my hardest not to anger the mole overlords,” Templeton blindly flipped a page in his book.

And then there was Templeton. Templeton was the school’s resident ‘weird kid’- talking about things that didn’t quite make sense to everyone else, but certainly made sense to him.

Templeton could be described as… well, Templeton.

Mitchell and Becky had met him on the 46th day of 7th grade. They were partnered in a group of 3 for a project (nobody wanted to be with him), and on the course of that, Mitchell and Becky bonded with him and accepted him into the group.

3 years later, they’ve become inseparable.

Becky never forgets those days they met.

“Well, to be honest…” Becky looked up from her food and chose to stature at Mitchell on her right and Templeton across from her at the lunch table. “We’ve done so much, haven’t we? In this school.” She went back to picking at her hot dog goulash. “It feels like something new happens every day, and we just… forget about it after a week,”

The two boys beside her stopped and thought, realizing she was right.

“Like the time machine! Does anyone remember the time machine?!”

“I remember,” Templeton said flatly.

“We all do, Bex. It’s just… so much happens in this place, it all blurs, ya know?”

Becky nodded.

“And that time I was king for a day… man, we’ve been through some STUFF.”

Becky smiled. “And that time Templeton had a whole alien race around him, wanting to eat him or something?”

“Hm?” Templeton looked up from the book he was reading titled “Templeton Recipe Book”. “I sort of remember that,”

Becky giggled. “And… remember Peter?”

“Peter? Like Peter Dustpan?”

“Yeah! He stole everything in the lost and found!”

“Like my trousers…” Templeton muttered as he slunk back into his book.

Mitchell delved into a laughing fit. “AND YOU HAD TO WEAR THE- WEAR THE POODLE SKIR-”

“Don’t remind me.” Templeton sighed. “It was embarrassing enough that he didn’t know trousers are called ‘trousers’, not ‘templetons’. Is he living under a rock?”

“Well, by the looks of it, he was there for a LONG while. But, at least he got reunited with his father,” Becky smiled a little. She had always found Peter sort of cute, even though he was a little… mentally unstable.

“Yea, what about that? Did he ever go back to a school?”

“I’m not sure,” Mitchell stopped in thought, tapping his foot. “He would have come back to Strange Hill, right?”

“I would have thought so,” Becky trailed off.

“Maybe he’s homeschooled,” Templeton blinked. “I did that for a while.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Becky pointed at Templeton with her fork, looking up to the sky in thought. “Well, I hope he’s happy,” She smiled a little, picking up her fork and beginning to eat.

The rest of the lunch, and the day, went on as normal, but the three kids found Peter entering their minds at random moments.


	2. Boy from School's Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids come to a realization the day before they're faced with a revelation.

One Month Later

Mitchell was panting, hard. With his entire body drained, he slumped back against the wall and slid to the ground, sitting, the mold covering his face.

“I’m sick of this,” His hands touched his face, attempting to get excess goop and slime off and also to steady himself.

“W-We all are,” Becky managed to say from across the room, taking off her hat and attempting to clean it by shaking it. “We just had to  _ KILL A SLIME MONSTER IN THE SCHOOL’S BASEMENT, AND I  _ **_NEED_ ** _ TO _ **_GO HOME!!!”_ ** Mitchell faltered at seeing the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

“Me too,” Templeton, sitting at the side of the room said flatly, not bothering to clean it off him. “It was fun at first, but I need to leave. I need to catch the newest episode of-”

Whatever he said next fell upon deaf ears as the two other kids sat staring at the muddled slime glob in the middle of the room. They couldn’t stop  _ thinking _ \- thinking about the same thing, whether they realized it or not.

_ How much longer are we going to have to do this? _

This is the third time this month they’ve had to fight some anomaly in the school grounds, leaving them emotionally and physically drained, and having to go home acting like nothing’s happened.

They act like it’s okay, but it isn’t. They’re sick of it.

“I don’t know how long we can keep doing this,” Becky was the first to voice her thoughts.

“But-”

“No, she’s right,” Mitchell interrupted, putting up a hand to silence Templeton. “This has been going on for the whole year. It’s getting old,”

Templeton blinked. “But we’re like the superher-”   
“Oh, superheroes? Like we had to be that one time? And we had to defeat an EVIL ABERCROMBIE WHO GOT  _ POSSESSED?!”  _ Becky slammed her hands on the ground, getting slime into her face.

“We solve the problems, yes? The school needs u-”

“Templeton,”

Templeton stopped.

“We need to go home,” Mitchell said, shaking a little. “We’ll discuss it tomorrow, alright? We just… need to go home,”

Templeton faltered, then nodded.

It was a cool, cloudy morning. Mr. Balding’s class was loosely populated, with Mitchell and Becky just arriving. Templeton was nowhere to be found.

Sitting down in their seats, they decided to talk to pass the next five minutes until class started.

“What are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Templeton was right, Mitchell. The school needs us. But… I’m not sure if we need the school,” Becky looked up to Mitchell with a saddened expression.

Mitchell was lost in thought. “I… yeah. I just… dunno what to do, I guess,”

“Well, what are we gonna do when something weird springs up again? Are we just gonna… sit there and watch?”

“Can’t other people take care of it?”

“I don’t know!! It seems like nobody here is powerful enough or anything?”

“What about Matthews?”

“MATTHEWS?!”

The conversation shifted from serious talk to a discussion on who would be powerful enough to stop something. But their talkings were interrupted from Templeton rushing into the room and to their desks.

His eyes were wide.

“Oy, Temps, what’s wrong?” Mitchell questioned, becoming a little concerned.

Becky put a hand behind her neck. “Templeton, if this is about yesterday… I just wanted to say I’m sorr-”

“I think he’s back,”

Mitchell and Becky exchanged a glance. “Who’s back?” they both said in unison.

“I-I saw his father. I may have seen him, but I’m not sure, I don’t think I’d have recognized hi-”

“Oh, Templeton,” Mr. Balding smiled. “Take your seat. Our new student is coming today,”

“Oh, no,” Templeton murmured, going back to his seat slowly.

Becky turned to Mitchell with her eyes open wide. “What is he-”

“Oh, there he is! Come in, son,”

And then he came in.

He looked… pretty good, actually. His hair was combed, but still a little wild. He was dressed in a long-sleeve cream-colored dress shirt and a blue sweater vest, with gray trousers. He came in smiling- his teeth still had gaps.

“Class, this is Peter Dustpan. He will be joining our class as of today. I would like you to give…” Mr. Balding yawned. “...a big, warm welcome to him.”

He smiled again, this time wider. “Hello, my dear friends!” he waved a hand high up in the air.

“Take your seat, son,”

Eyes scanning the room, Peter’s eyes locked onto the one empty seat.

Templeton’s eyes went wide.

“POODLE-BOY!”

Peter ran over to the desk and slid into it, leaning and looking to his left to see Templeton sitting beside him.

“Oh, Poodle-boy, how I’ve missed you so!”

Templeton tried to hide his face as the class broke into snickers and whispers.

Mitchell and Becky could only stare at each other with an emotion they couldn’t describe.

“This  _ can’t _ be happening,”


End file.
